Comics I Love - Byrne/Claremont's X-Men

Can anyone recall another classic creative team that began with one half of the team coming into the book in the middle of a storyline?

That was the rather unheralded beginning of the beautiful relationship of John Byrne and Chris Claremont on Uncanny X-Men.

By the time Byrne left the book a couple of years later, the two men had transformed the modern comic book, leaving a model that other creators would be aping for, well, the next 25 years.

To show what they've done, one need only look at the sheer amount of characters that were introduced during their run on the book. It is staggering.

Add to this list of characters is the very concept of telling alternate future storylines and the idea of killing off a MAJOR character (characters had died before, but never ones as important to a title as Phoenix) - and the influence of this is sooo widespread.

The issue I will pick to encapsulate their run is also their last issue - the Christmas issue with Kitty Pryde versus the alien.

I dunno if it actually encapsulates their run or not, but what can I say, it's my favorite issue of theirs.

FINE! BE THAT WAY!!

I'll pick another one - I guess the issue where Wolverine is thought to be killed by the Hellfire Club. That was pretty darn cool.